The editorial board at the Seattle Times believes the lawsuit filed by several school districts to increase state education funding is a good thing.
The lawsuit, filed in King County Superior Court, is not overreaching. It requests a court order requiring the state to affirm its constitutional obligation, cost it out and pay it.
Cost it out? As this research review by Eric Hanushek confirms, that's an entirely subjective exercise.
Asking the courts or, more precisely, outside consultants to provide a scientific answer to the question of how much should be spent on schools is irresponsible. Decisions on how much to spend on education are not scientific questions, and they cannot be answered with methods that effectively rule out all discussion of reforms that might make the school system more efficient.
There's understandable frustration with how the state funds education and with how the education dollars are allocated and spent. Still, there's almost no legislative dilemma that can't be made worse by the intervention of the courts. This is not the exception.
